Magnus has spent so much of his life anchored somewhere that he cannot imagine what it must feel like to float free into the ether. How strange it must feel to have no ties to a land, to not feel that heaviness of duty tying you down. How strange to not feel both caged and set free by it. He does not regret his life of living kingdom bound—in a childhood such as his, there were no real options otherwise—but that does not mean he does not sometimes wonder about the life of a nomad, the freedom that exists within it.
Still, today at least, he does not give into such fancies.
Instead, he occupies himself with his curiosity of the shifter by his side, letting himself imagine what brings him to Tephra’s humid shores. He feels no awkwardness, his crooked grin merely widening at the other. “It certainly makes things easier,” he says easily, although it did make the more tense interactions with less trustworthy kingdoms like Sylva a little more stilted. After all, it was significantly more obvious when Magnus had no intention of chauffeuring someone further into the belly of the kingdom.
Regardless, this was a different scenario entirely, and he feels no need to play gatekeeper with Titus. Instead, he comes to a stop with the other stallion, relaxing his posture and letting the edges of his sun-bleached tail flick at his sides. “I don’t worry overmuch,” he says with a laugh, although he knows that there are plenty of dangers that lurk around the border. “But I do my best to keep an eye out all the same.”
“So what brings you to Tephra today, Titus?” There’s no pressure behind the words other than casual curiosity, but Magnus watches him all the same, wondering at what the other would have to say.
MAGNUS | I don't belong to anyone, but everybody knows my name
@[Titus]
![[Image: gqYjsHr.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/KjqNDKxc/gqYjsHr.png)